Process for improving the carding effect of carding cylinders



p 6, 1949- A. M. CASTELL 2,481,002

PROCESS FOR IMPROVING THE CARDING EFFECT OF CARDING CYLINDERS FiledApril 18, 1945 SNVENTOR AGUSTIN MASALLERA CASTELL AG ENT lPRMfiESS FURHWRQWING THE CARDIN G EFIFIE'IC'E lllilF EARRING tCYLINDlERS Agustinltlasalllera Castell, Barcelona, Spain, as-

aignor to E. A. Constant Bard, Barcelona, Spain, a corporation oi SpainApplication April 18, ll9t5, Serial No. 589,002 in Spain May 16, 1944 iclaim. t

The present invention refers to a process for improving the cardingefiect oi carding cylinders for cotton and other textile fibres by meansof which a continuous carding is attained.

. its is known, in the process of carding as hitherto carried out a partof the fibres taken in or licked by the card clothing of the maincarding cylinder is retained between the wire points clogging them upand finally forming a mass which progressively reduces its cardingaction, for which reason it is necessary at definite intervals to efiectits cleaning, the carding engine being stopped for this purpose. Thefrequency with which it is necessary to strip the cards depends uponvarious circumstances such as the quality oi the cotton, the speed offeed, the quality of the product which it is desired to obtain, etc.,but in general it varies between three and four hours. This continuousclogging of the card clothing of the principal or main carding cylindernecessitates periodic stoppages of the carding operation in order toclean the card clothing. As a consequence of the clogging, the web isnot uniformly treated and considerable variations in the number of theobtained sliver occur, since in starting the card after the cylinder hasbeen cleaned the number of the sliver produced diminishes by degreesuntil choking takes place again, that is to say, it is not possible toobtain a uniform carding and, furthermore, losses of material and timeare caused.

All these inconveniences inherent to the carding as hitherto carried outare entirely obviated by means of the process forming the object of theinvention which consists essentially in efiecting during the actualoperation of carding, a gradual aspiration of air over the points of thecard clothing of the carding cylinder by successive zones thereof, thisair absorbing with it a part of the fibres, principally the short onestogether with solid particles, and above all raising the mass of fibresin course of carding and keeping same on the surface formed by the tipsof the points of the card clothing. This gradual aspiration modifiesessentially the process of carding and brings about the followingimportant advantages:

(a) The card clothing of the cylinder is kept continuously clean forperiods of time practically unlimited;

(b) The web produced is constant in quality and thus the weight permetre of the sliver produced is constant;

(c) The yield of the material carded is a maximum in the first placebecause no losses are prosecond placebecause there is no possibility oflong fibres unduly passing to enlarge the residuum of the flats, as hastaken place hitherto from the moment when the carding cylinder workedwith clogging of the card clothing;

(d) Practically allstoppages of the carding engine are avoided whichhitherto were necessary for the cleaning operation, with the consequentincrease of production;

(e) There is attained a greater durability of the card clothing, thetips of the wire points undergoing no injury in the cleaning process,and the operatives avoid the trouble, annoyance and antihygienicoperation of card stripping of the carding cylinder.

From the foregoing it is shown that the application of the presentinvention in the process of carding permits of obtaining a constant anduninterrupted carding such as it has not up to the present been possibleto attain.

The process described may be carried into practical execution by means,for example, of an apparatus which comprises essentially one or moreaspirating mouth-pieces or similar devices for mounting as close aspracticable to the points of the card clothing of the carding cylinderand combined with suitable means for it or their support and to permitregular and gradual displacement of the said aspirating mouth-piece ormouth-pieces along the length of the said cylinder in both directions,and one or more outlet conduits for the aspirated material which isdischarged either in front of the feed cylinder of the carding engine,or above the point of aspiration, or in any other suitable place.

On the accompanying drawings is shown diagrammatically and by way ofnon-restrictive example one embodiment of the said apparatus.

Figure 1 is a partial view in elevation of the rear portion of a cardingengine with the apparatus according to the invention in its operativeposition;

Figure 2 is a side view of the said apparatus looking in the directionof the arrow II of Figure 1.

The apparatus according to the example shown on the drawing is fitted atthe rear part of the carding engine at the top of the cover of thetaker-in or licker-in, and in the space which remains between this andthe curve which the flats form, or the parts shown on the drawing, lillustrates one of the supports for the apparatus, 2 is the feed table,3 the feed cylinder, 4

duced in clo g the card clothing, and in the the cover of the licker-in,5 the main carding cylinder, 8 the points of the card clothing oi thecylinder, and I the cover thereof.

The apparatus proper is constituted essentially by an electro-aspirator,the body or casing 8 of which is coupled direct to an electric motor 8and has an aspiration or suction tube 10 which is.

arranged coaxially with respect to the axis of the impeller of theaspirator and which terminates in a mouth-piece located at the leastpossible distance from the points 6 of the card clothing, to which endthe cover I is provided over its whole length with a slot II. From thebody 8 of the aspirator there is fitted, radially or tangentially, anoutlet conduit l2 which discharges either in front of the feed cylinder3 or above the point of aspiration as shown in dotted lines I2 The bodyof the electric motor 9 is provided in its upper part with an annularstrap i3 through which passes a suspension rod l4 arranged parallel tothe axis of the carding cylinder 5, the rod ll being fixed in supportsl5 above the benches of the carding engine and having a double threadcooperating with a corresponding thread in the ring or strap I3 of themotor 9, so that on the rotation of the said rod the motor and the partscarried thereby are displaced alternately in one or the other directionalong said rod. There is provided for actuating the rod I4, for example,a driven pulley I6 which may be combined with a reducing gear IT. Theelectric motor 9 is connected in any suitable manner with a fixed pointof current supply located in general on one of the benches of thecarding engine, and, if desired, there may be combined therewithautomatic switches in such manner that at the end of the travel of theelectric motor in one or the other of the two directions in which itmoves, the electric circuit is opened and does not close again until theextreme opposite end of the travel is again reached.

By means of the apparatus described and arranged in the mannerindicated, the result is attained that by the aspiration of the tube It!the whole mass of fibres in course of carding is raised and kept on thesurface formed by the tips of the points 6 of the card clothing, thuscompletely preventing the choking thereof giving as a result a constantcarding. This result is not altered by the fact that a part of thefibres are extracted from the said mass by means of the aspiration,since they are again returned to the carding cylinder at the place fromwhere they were drawn out either indirectly through the outlet conduit[2, the feed cylinder 3 and the licker-in, or directly through theoutlet conduit l2 In the first of these cases, the result is attainedthat the short fibres and particularly the solid particles may beseparated during their second passage through the licker-in. As has beenstated, the aspirator can operate continuously during its displacementalong the rod ll, that is to say, in one or the other direction, or onlyduring one of these there being provided in this travel the appropriateautomatic switches so that there results a completely regular feed.

It is to be noted that the invention described may be subject tovariations of detail without thereby departing from the fundamentalprinciple of the invention.

The apparatus described hereinbeiore is claimed in my copendingapplication, Ser. No. 71,147.

I claim:

A process for improving the carding effect of carding cylinders whichcomprises the step of continuously applying suction to the web of fibersbeing carded on the carding cylinder, such suction being appliedprogressively back and forth across the surface of the cylinder as saidcylinder rotates, the suction being sufficient only to raise the fibersfrom the base of the teeth to the tips thereof, without complete removaland carrying away of such fibers, whereby'the major portion of thefibers remains on the the carding cylinder and travels along therewithfor completion of the carding operation, and whereby the clothing of thecylinder is kept continuously clear for long periods of time.

AGUSTIN MASALLERA CASTELL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,079,392 Campbell Nov. 25, 19131,441,850 Hamilton Jan. 9, 1923 1,614,103 Clark Jan. 11, 1927 1,635,834Goldsmith July 12, 1927 2,327,349 Goldsmith, Jr Aug. 24, 1943 2,433,810Clark Dec. 30, 1947 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date Great Britain'1863 288,057 Great Britain Apr. 5, 1928 360,681 Italy July 2, 1938

